Short Poems To Read Alone

Annual Advice to the Soul

Our years begin today

as they will tomorrow, if (when) it comes,

as they did yesterday, born

and dying, perhaps living, and

uncertain of most things, giving

a chance unspoken

to begin

with a stronger hold on our own neck

but not choking, concious of will, watching,

the day wearing

uncut diamonds, made of pressed wine

standing tall and broad and deep and

holding a mirror that shows nothing but the sky,

reflecting nothing but the sun

onto lakes of unspilled tears and white daisies

where the heart is happy

and the soul free and

where slowly, the water rises, flooding the fields

and I think this is what we must learn

finally, to breathe.